


5 Times Harvey Refrained from Punching Travis Tanner (+ 1 Time He Didn’t)

by FrivolousSuits



Series: Tarvey 5+1 [1]
Category: Suits (US TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Boxing & Fisticuffs, Enemies to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Love/Hate, M/M, shameless fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 13:03:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15292110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrivolousSuits/pseuds/FrivolousSuits
Summary: It’s a one-time thing.Harvey tells himself that the first time in the file room, and the second time on the couch in Tanner’s office, and the third time in his own damn office chair. Whenever they start sniping at each other, there’s always a secret conversation underneath that Harvey doesn’t quite catch onto until Tanner’s fists are tugging at his hair and he’s got a hand around Tanner’s throat, just hard enough to shut him up for once.But those were all one-time things.





	5 Times Harvey Refrained from Punching Travis Tanner (+ 1 Time He Didn’t)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sandrine Shaw (Sandrine)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandrine/gifts).



> Written for Sandrine Shaw, whose fangirling inspired me to actually finish this bit of fluff. I highly recommend her Travis/Harvey fic [Rematch](https://archiveofourown.org/works/665446)!

1

When Harvey ~~fled~~ gracefully stepped away from Zane Specter Litt and joined Smith and Devane, he hoped that he could – not hide, but strategically position himself within such a large firm so as to never cross paths with Travis Tanner.

So naturally they end up as co-counsel on Harvey’s first case.

When he walks into their first meeting and sees his oily smirk, Harvey snaps, “Why so happy, Tanner?”

The smirk widens. “Just placed a bet with my associate. He says you’ll last the case without punching me. I think you can’t make it two days.”

“So your defense is now reverse psychology?”

“Well, it’s that or be sincerely nice to you. Easy choice.”

Firm gossip has it that Tanner purposefully put himself on the case; maybe he’s still playing dirty and setting Harvey up to be the scapegoat. Really, Harvey’s got no choice but to second-guess his otherwise competent paralegals when they swear Tanner hasn’t tampered with the case.

Harvey makes a grand show of leaving for home at the early hour of eight o’clock, and he instead shuts himself away in a corner of the firm file room, combing through all the case paperwork for evidence of malpractice and coming up with nothing. It’s long past twelve when he emerges from his corner to slink home in defeat, only to find Tanner leaning against a set of shelves, tapping away on his phone.

He glances up with a mischievous smile. “You finally proved I’m not screwing you?”

Harvey exhales in a huff. “I’ve had a long day, so drop the attitude, Tanner.”

“Or what?”

Adrenaline surges, and Harvey makes a split-second decision between ramming his fist into that greasy smile and kissing it off Tanner’s face.

He can’t let Tanner win that absurd and possibly-made-up bet.

It’s an easy choice.

2

The sex is a one-time thing.

Harvey tells himself that the first time in the file room, and the second time on the couch in Tanner’s office, and the third time in his own damn office chair. Something about Tanner reduces him to raw instinct, and it’s far too comforting that Harvey seems to have the same effect on him. Whenever they start sniping at each other, there’s always a secret conversation underneath that Harvey doesn’t quite catch onto until Tanner’s fists are tugging at his hair and he’s got a hand around Tanner’s throat, just hard enough to shut him up for once.

But those were all one-time things.

Harvey holds onto that thought even as he pours Tanner a glass of his prized Macallan 18 late Friday night– the guy keeps Macallan 12 in his own office, _someone_ has to educate him – and drinks turn to dessert, where dessert is Tanner in Harvey’s unreasonably large shower. Harvey has him pressed against the glass wall as the steam rises around them. He pins Tanner’s wrists above them and resumes kissing that smirk off his face.

Historically kissing has only intensified said smirk, but Harvey’s determined to try _harder_.

Harvey has a luxurious sleep-in Saturday morning, so when Tanner gets up soon after dawn he only watches him for half a minute– with appreciation for how he looks genuinely human with his hair soft and mussed– before nodding off again. He wakes up properly hours later to golden light streaming through his curtains and the smell of bacon.

When he goes out into his kitchen, he’s stunned to find that it’s not a joke, Tanner’s not trolling him with a pork-scented candle. No, Tanner’s standing over the stove with a pan of eggs and another pan of _delicious, sizzling bacon_ , and Harvey gets this sudden warm and fuzzy feeling around his chest.

He should have a doctor check that.

It only gets worse when Tanner looks up and immediately lays into him. “Your fridge is empty. What kind of neanderthal are you?”

Sliding onto one of the chairs at the counter, Harvey asks with equal disbelief, “You went grocery shopping?”

“Delivery.”

Harvey’s eyes dart up, and he scowls at Tanner’s freshly oiled hair. “You better have ordered some hair gel, because if you used mine–”

“I absolutely did,” Tanner grins as he turns off the stove and arranges their breakfast on two plates. “Speaking of which, luxury molding wax? _Really_?”

“You understand you can’t pull off gel like I can, right?”

He lets out a scoff. “Yeah, right–”

“Hey, it’s true,” Harvey insists. “Without it you’re much–”

He cuts himself off, but the spark’s already alight in Tanner’s eyes. “Much what? Much more handsome? Much more like a Greek god?”

“Much _prettier_ ,” Harvey says, as insultingly as he can.

Tanner completely fails to be insulted, instead smiling wide. “Aw, Harv, you think I’m pretty!”

“I didn’t–”

“You definitely did,” he says, placing Harvey’s plate in front of him. “Now shut up and eat your breakfast.”

Harvey gives him a calculating look, jaw pulsing as the old reflex to punch Tanner’s smug face kicks in. He stalls by taking a bite of his bacon, and– dammit. God knows what drug Tanner laced it with, but Harvey has to hold back a truly obscene moan.

He quips, “You make an excellent housewife.”

“Still can’t beat the guy with the luxury molding wax,” Tanner instantly retorts.

“ _Rough_ luxury molding wax,” Harvey mutters under his breath.

3

Harvey finds himself slipping during a settlement meeting, admiring how Tanner looks actually decent now that he’s quit the hair gel, but then Tanner slaps an envelope down on the table and shocks him back to attention.

“Lucky you,” Tanner says, smirking down at their poor opposing counsel, “I just got ironclad evidence. An affidavit from dear Lizzie, swearing your client knew exactly what he was doing.”

The other lawyer gasps. “How– You got that illegally, you tampered with a witness, you bribed her or you threatened her!”

“Maybe I did,” Tanner answers with a blase shrug, “but if you put me on the stand I’d swear it just showed up on my doorstep.”

Opposing counsel shoots to his feet and darts from the room on the verge of a breakdown; Harvey knows Tanner just closed the deal. That fact only electrifies him further as he too rises and turns to face Tanner.

“I thought you changed,” he growls. “You’re really back to your old tricks?”

Tanner throws him a toothy grin, and Harvey’s fully prepared to take a swipe at him.

“Your old tricks,” he replies.

“ _What_?”

Tanner thrusts the envelope against his chest. “Take a look.”

He tears it open to find this year’s Gentlemen’s Singles bracket for Wimbledon.

“You of all people,” Tanner drawls, “should know the threat of perjury is almost as good as perjury itself.”

At once the rage turns to overwhelming pride.

4

Rupert Stirling Kennington is a 24-year-old disaster, and Smith and Devane would have long since rid itself of him if not for the multimillion-dollar trust fund set up by his parents, two of the firm’s most loyal and lucrative clients. Still, Harvey’s about had it with him, and he’s glad that Tanner just wrapped up his last case with a tidy settlement, NDA included. Harvey finishes going over the agreement with him, and he’s bidding him goodbye with a swift handshake when Rupert leans in and says in a conspiratorial whisper, “Next time, I want you instead of Tanner. The guy’s useless.”

Harvey freezes. “Excuse me?”

“A good lawyer would have taken it to trial.”

“A good lawyer,” Harvey corrects with a curl in his lip, “would never have taken your case on. A great lawyer would have gotten you off with a two million-dollar settlement, and what Tanner did with one million–”

“Was clearly sub-par,” the kid snarks, pulling his hand away and tossing his head, as if he’s going to cow Harvey into submission.

Harvey takes a menacing step forward. “Okay, listen up–”

Somebody grabs Harvey by the shoulder, and Harvey wheels around to punch them before he gets back to teaching this punk a lesson, but the someone is _Tanner_.

Tanner shoots Rupert a dirty look. “Why don’t you show yourself out?”

Rupert rolls his eyes before walking out, and Harvey would lunge at him if not for Tanner’s restraining hand.

Once he’s out of the room, Harvey turns around and finds Tanner frowning at him. “Were you honestly going to punch a client?”

“Of course not.”

Tanner raises an eyebrow knowingly.

Oh god.

At some point, Harvey came full circle. He started caring about Travis Tanner, enough to punch other people to defend him.

He swears it’s an accident.

Tanner sneaks a look to check nobody can see them, and then with uncharacteristic fondness he reaches out and brushes Harvey’s cheek. “What the hell am I gonna do with you?”

5

There’s a long-standing rumor at Smith and Devane that the great Travis Tanner will never find love, because no sane woman would put up with him through a dinner date, much less a lifetime. There’s enough gaps in that logic to drive a semi through, and though Tanner swears it doesn’t bother him, it bothers _Harvey_.

Which is why he swings by Tanner’s office one day, throws down an invitation for an attorney networking event at the Harvard Club, and asks, “Be my plus-one?”

Though it doesn’t bleed crimson like Pearson Hardman at its height, Smith and Devane has a respectable number of Harvard Law alums, so the event doubles one of the flashiest venues for coming out as a couple. Tanner scans the invitation and agrees curtly before turning back to his work.

They don’t discuss it, not until Tanner texts Harvey on the night of about a client dinner running long. So Harvey gets dressed up in his tux and walks into the Club alone, wondering if he’s finally found something that scares Travis Tanner.

He networks for a while, mingling aimlessly with people he hasn’t seen in years and hasn’t missed in the slightest, drifting around the room until he runs into someone who is most certainly not a HLS grad.

She’s stunning in a midnight blue gown with her red hair pinned up in an elegant twist, and she breaks into a huge smile when she sees him. “Harvey, I’m so glad to see you.”

“Donna, what are you doing here?”

“I’m Louis’s plus-one.”

“You and Louis?” Harvey’s eyebrows shoot up. “Unexpected, but as long as you’re happy–”

“No, no,” she corrects with a chuckle. “I’m here because he and Sheila just broke up and he didn’t want to come alone.”

Harvey grimaces. "Sorry to hear that.”

“Truth be told,” she adds, “I also came to see you. You’re a hard man to get hold of now.”

Harvey takes a cautious sip of his champagne. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

“Yeah,” she announces, taking a deep breath to gather courage and resting one hand on his arm, “there is. I could never tell you when you were actually there, but being without you has made me realize–”

“Donna,” Harvey interrupts sharply.

“No, just let me finish. The truth is I do have feelings–”

“There you are, darling, I was all alone in enemy territory. It’s like they can smell the Yale in me.”

_Darling?_

Harvey’s mostly exorcised his punch-Tanner reflex, but now it’s flaring again. God, does he know that his timing couldn’t be worse, as he sidles up to Harvey in his own tux with that god-awful grin, as Donna gapes at him in horror–

Of course he knows.

And Tanner knows the moment Harvey catches on, because he gets a diabolical glint in his eyes. It belies his innocent expression as he snatches Harvey’s champagne glass, drains it, and says, “Hi, Donna, haven’t seen you in years.”

Harvey looks at him mildly, clinging onto his poker face, and Tanner looks back, never breaking from his default smirk.

A moment later Tanner spots an old enemy from Boston and flits off to talk to him, placing the empty glass back in Harvey’s hand and leaving him with Donna, who’s now wrinkling her brow, trying to figure this all out.

All she says is, “Really?”

Harvey looks back at Tanner, who’s now no doubt tormenting his poor conversation partner, and he knows his own eyes turn gentler at the sight. “Really.”

She leaves, and Harvey carries on. He can feel the revelation percolating through the room; people start turning to steal what they must think are discreet looks at them both. It reaches a peak when Tanner circles to him and Harvey places one quick kiss on his lips before murmuring, “That was evil.”

He cocks an eyebrow. “Surprised?”

“As if.”

His smirk briefly softens into a real smile. “Good.”

“I know you,” Harvey assures him. “Now, go get me another drink . . . sweetheart.”

Tanner gives him a look.

“What’s wrong, babe?”

He huffs and spins around to walk away.

“Honey,” Harvey says, not even trying to repress the twinkle in his eye, “don’t be like that!”

“Bastard,” Tanner calls back.

Harvey grins– they’re back to normal.

+1

Travis still hasn’t accepted that Harvey was simply born a superior boxer, and he insists on weekly matches in the ring that he almost always loses. Harvey’s happy to indulge him, if only because the adrenaline and energy of the ring always linger into the night. It’s harmless fun.

Until he lands one particularly intense jab and Travis stumbles back, falling against the ropes as blood gushes from his nose. Panic strikes Harvey, and he’s tearing off his gloves and rushing forward and calling for help, because head injuries are dangerous and he might have seriously hurt Travis. Jesus, the thought makes him sick.

A member of the gym staff runs over to check on Travis, who rattles off the entire list of concussion symptoms before insisting he has none of them, and the fear starts to recede. Still Harvey makes Travis sit down, carefully, and hold a napkin to his nose to staunch the bleeding, and he barks out an order for ice packs.

“Does my nose look off?” Travis asks, words garbled by his rapidly swelling lip.

“No more than usual.”

Travis flips him off, and Harvey rolls his eyes, even as he grabs an ice pack from a terrified-looking employee and hands it to him.

“Why didn’t you dodge that, huh?” he demands.

Travis knows he doesn’t mean it; he knows Travis knows he doesn’t mean it. They’re fluent in the same dialect of Emotionally Stunted Jerk, so Travis listens to “Why didn’t you dodge that, huh?” and hears, _I’m so sorry_.

“You’re an idiot,” he immediately replies.

_We’re okay._

**Author's Note:**

> [Rough luxury molding wax](https://www.google.com/search?q=rough+luxury+molding+wax+oribe&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-ab).


End file.
